Johns Hopkins-Lebanon Valley Game Notes

The Game: Johns Hopkins (7-3) welcomes Lebanon Valley (6-4) to Homewood Field for the 2010 ECAC South Atlantic Bowl. Kickoff is set for noon on Saturday, November 20.

The Teams: Johns Hopkins posted a 7-3 record and earned a share of the Centennial Conference title with a 7-2 league mark. JHU shared the title with Muhlenberg and Ursinus. Muhlenberg, by virtue of wins over Johns Hopkins and Ursinus, claimed the CC's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs. The title is the sixth for JHU since 2002.

Lebanon Valley tied for second place in the Middle Atlantic Conference with a 6-4 overall record and a 5-2 league mark. The Dutchmen enter this week's game riding the crest of a five-game winning streak.

The Coaches: Johns Hopkins is coached by Jim Margraff, who is in his 21st year as the head coach at Johns Hopkins and sports a 136-78-3 (.634) record. He is the all-time winningest coach in school history and also ranks second all-time in CC history with 92 league victories to his credit. Jim Monos is in his 18th season as the head coach at Lebanon Valley and sports a 79-99-2 record. He served as the head coach at LVC from 1986-96 before leaving for an assistant coaching stint at Bloomsburg. He returned to the 'Valley in 2004 and now ranks as the winningest coach in school history.

A Grand Victory: In addition to keeping themselves alive in the race for a share of the Centennial Conference title, the win at Franklin & Marshall on November 6 will also go down in the record books as a victory in the 1,000th all-time game in school history. JHU improved to 469-473-58 (.498) all-time with last week's victory.

Recently Speaking: Johns Hopkins stood at 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the Centennial entering its game at Susquehanna on October 23. Since then, the Blue Jays are 4-0 and have outscored their last four opponents 155-43.

ECAC Bowl History: Johns Hopkins is making its fifth appearance in an ECAC Bowl game and all five have come since 2002. Below is a look at JHU's previous ECAC Bowl Game appearances:

Post-Season History: Johns Hopkins had never played a post-season game prior to 2002, but made the three straight ECAC appearances noted above and topped off the greatest four-year run in school history with a trip to the 2005 NCAA Playoffs.

After a two-year hiatus from the postseason, the Blue Jays returned in 2008 with a trip to the 2008 ECAC Southeast Bowl game and capped the greatest season in school history in 2009 with a stunning run to the NCAA Quarterfinals.

Johns Hopkins is 3-1 all-time in ECAC games and 2-2 all-time in the NCAA Playoffs for an all-time postseason record of 5-3.

November Reign: Johns Hopkins closed the regular season with four straight wins - two of which came after flipping the calendar to November. Those wins shouldn't come as a surprise as the Blue Jays have been one of the strongest finishing teams in the Centennial Conference in recent years.

Including the two wins this season, the Blue Jays are are 37-16-1 under head coach Jim Margraff in November with wins in 25 of their last 29 games. The Blue Jays have currently won six straight games in November and are 10-1 in their last 11 games played in November.

Wernick Earns Centennial Offensive Player of the Year Honors: Johns Hopkins produced its second straight Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Year recipient when the All-Centennial team was announced as junior wide receiver Sam Wernick grabbed the prestigious award.

Wernick joins Mark Campbell (1985), Anthony Triplin (2005) and Andrew Kase(2009) as Johns Hopkins players who have garnered CC Offensive Player of the Year honors.

Wernick has enjoyed one of the finest seasons in school history by a wide receiver as he leads the team in receptions (59), receiving yards (1,085) and touchdown receptions (14). His marks for receiving yards and TD receptions are both JHU single-season records.

I'm Honored: In addition to Sam Wernick grabbing Offenisve Player of the Year honors, JHU placed 11 players on the 2010 All-Centennial Team. JHU's 11 selections ranked second in the league and the Blue Jays produced a league-high seven first team honorees.

Perhaps more impressivley, he set a school record by starting his 44th consecutive game in last week's 34-10 win over McDaniel. He is one of just four players in school history who have started 40 or more games - each of the four started all of those games consecutively. Below is a list of JHU's career leaders in consecutive games started:

Piatek Tops 100: Junior linebacker Ryan Piatek totaled a team and game-high 13 tackles in last week's 34-10 win over McDaniel to run his season tackle total to 103. He is the first Johns Hopkins player to reach the 100-tackle mark since Matt Hagel totaled 106 in 2004.

Piatek, who ranks second in the Centennial Conference in tackles per game (10.3), also leads the team in tackles for losses (12.5) and sacks (4.5) and ranks second in interceptions (3).

125 Times Five: Junior LB Ryan Piatek notched his 100th tackle of the season last week vs. McDaniel and is now closing in on 200 career tackles. He is JHU's career active leader with 185 to his credit. Piatek is one of five members of the junior class with 125 or more career tackles to their credit. Below is a look at JHU's five active players with more than 125 career tackles.

38 Special: Johns Hopkins enters today's game needing to score 38 points to match the school single-season record for points scored. The Blue Jays totaled 388 in 13 games last season and have 350 in 10 games this year. The school-record for highest scoring average in a season is 36.4 (1967). JHU has scored 40 or more points four times this season - the Blue Jays have never scored 40 or more five times in one season.

Did You Know: Prior to this season there had been exactly seven instances in school history where the Blue Jays had two receivers with 100 or more receiving yards in the same game. The Blue Jays have done it three times this year after Tucker Michels(9-125-0) and Sam Wernick (4-124-1) topped the 100-yard mark at F&M. Amazingly, Wernick has been involved in all three this season and four of the 10 in school history.

Defense Finishing Strong: The Johns Hopkins defense allowed 50 combined points in consecutive games against Ursinus and Susquehanna in the middle of October, but the Blue Jays have been much stingier since then. Not surprisingly, the resurrgence of the JHU defense has conicided with the Blue Jays' current winning streak.

The Blue Jays have allowed a total of just 19 points in their last three games and those three opponents have averaged just 222.3 yards per game.

In addition, JHU has held its last four opponents to 201 combined rushing yards.

500 Yards in Back-to-Back Games: One week after punching up a then season-high 515 yards of total offense in a 49-24 win at Susquehanna, the Blue Jays took that up a notch with a 582-yard outburst against Juniata.

The 582-yard showing ranks as the third-highest single-game total in the Jim Margraff era and the efforts over those two games mark the first time in school history JHU has totaled 500 or more yards in back-to-back games.

Below is a look at the five highest single-game total offense marks under Margraff:

Tomlin Is JHU's Winningest QB: Junior Hewitt Tomlin became JHU's career leader in wins by a starting quarterback with the 44-10 win against Dickinson on October 8. Tomlin, who is now 24-8 in 32 career starts at Johns Hopkins, passed JHU Hall of Famer Mark Campbell for most career wins by a JHU starting QB. Campbell played from 1982-85 and was also an All-American pitcher for the Blue Jay baseball team.

Tomlin Ranks Third in Victories Among CC Quarterbacks: Junior Hewitt Tomlin became JHU's career leader in wins by a starting quarterback with the 44-10 win against Dickinson on October 8. Tomlin, who is now 24-8 in 32 career starts at Johns Hopkins, moved into sole possession of third place on the Centennial Conference's all-time list of winningest quarterbacks with the 24-9 win at F&M on November 6. Tomlin is just one win shy of Muhlenberg's Eric Santagato for second place on the list.

Tomlin Breaks Another Record: Junior Hewitt Tomlin is down to two remaining significant school passing record that he doesn't call his own after passing current head coach Jim Margraffon JHU's career completions list in last week's win against McDaniel. Tomlin, who now has 594 career completions (Margraff's record of 586 had stood since 1981), ranks second in only career attempts (1,003 - record if 1,126) and touchdown passes (46 / 50) with both of those marks still held by Margraff.

Tomlin threw for 340 yards and one touchdown against the Green Terror and improved his school records for career 200-yards (22) and 300-yard (8) passing games. He ranks second in Centennial history in career 200-yard games (record is 23) and is tied for the all-time lead in 300-yard games.

A Pass-Happy Bunch: Johns Hopkins totaled a season-hgih 386 yards passing in the win at Susquehanna and JHU has a school-record six, 300-yard passing games (as a team) on the year after punching up 300 or more in each of the last four games (also a school record). Prior to this season, JHU had never thrown for more than 300 yards more than twice in a season.

The 386 passing yards vs. the Crusaders rank as the fourth-highest total in school history. Below is a look at the top seven single-game team passing totals in school history, three of which have come this season and six of which have come in the Jim Margraff era.

200-300: For just the second time in school history, Johns Hopkins totaled 200 yards rushing and 300 yards passing in the win over Juniata. JHU rushed for 216 yards and threw for 366 yards in piling up 582 yards of total offense. Both 200-300 showings have come under current head coach Jim Margraff. Previously, JHU reached these marks against Swarthmore in 1991 (230 rushing - 342 passing).

Turnovers Tell the Story: In JHU's three losses, the Blue Jays have turned the ball over a total of 12 times. On the flip side, they have just eight total turnovers in their seven wins.

Road Warriors: The Blue Jays posted a 6-2 record on the road last season after punching up a 4-1 record on the road in 2008. Including the six road games this season, JHU is 18-6 since the start of the 2007 season on the road and 40-15 on the road since the start of the 2001 season.

It's Been a While: Johns Hopkins had a 24-game streak where it forced at least one turnover snapped at F&M as the Blue Jays failed to post an interception or recover a fumble. Still, JHU has been on quite a roll in the turnover department. Consider ...

•JHU has forced at least one turnover in 25 of its last 26 games dating back to late in the 2008 season.
•JHU has forced two or more turnovers in 20 of the last 24 games dating back to late in the 2008 season.
•JHU has at least one interception in 22 of the last 25 games.

Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 70-28 (.714) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 76-31 (.710) since the start of the 2001 season and 81-36 (.692) since the beginning of the 2000 season. The 74 wins the Blue Jays amassed from 2000-09 are the most wins in a decade in school history. Johns Hopkins had never won more than seven games in a season prior to this decade. In the decade just completed, the Blue Jays averaged more than seven wins per season (7.4).

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 61-19 (.763) when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

Notes of Interest: Johns Hopkins is 40-of-44 (.909) on trips to the red zone this season • From the "it must be the speech" department we find that the Blue Jays have outscored the opposition 98-39 in the first quarter and 79-31 in the third quarter this season • A win this week against Lebanon Valley would give JHU eight wins for the seventh time since 2002 - prior to this, Johns Hopkins had never won more than seven games in a season • A win would also give the JHU senior class 30 wins since arriving at Homewood.